I. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to an improvement of the arm, for moving the door of a cabinet from a closed to an open position and vice versa, which has been described and claimed in Italian Pat. No. 1,216,642 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,446) and Italian Pat. No. 1,218,233 No. 20428 A/88 dated May 3, 1988.
II. Prior Art and Other Considerations
Italian Pat. No. 1,216,642 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,446 in the name of the same applicant, refers to a system for moving the door of a cabinet from a closed to an open position and vice versa. A characteristic element of said system is constituted by a pair of horizontal articulated arms wherein a first extremity of each of the two arms is rotatably mounted on an upper and a lower portion, respectively, of the fixed frame of said cabinet while the second extremity of each arm is rotatably mounted on the door in an upper and a lower point, respectively, arranged along the vertical line which passes through the center of gravity of said door.
It has, however, been noted that, in the case of fairly heavy doors, the above arms are subjected to a certain torsion and bending which lowers and, at the same time, tends to incline the door. Said lowering may be compensated by making use of the adjustable arm described in the above mentioned Italian Pat. No. 1,218,233 according to which the two parts of the articulated arms are coupled together in a rotatable and adjustable manner on the axis of the part of the arm going from the articulation up to the point where it is attached to the frame of the cabinet. The door may thus be raised by the required height by suitably rotating upwards the part of the arm going from the articulated to the door. This adjustment in height does not, however, compensate the above mentioned inclination of the door in relation to the frame which in any case jeopardizes the perfect closing of the door. Moreover, the necessity of finely adjusting the position of the door with respect to the frame is also essential to compensate any small deformations of the frame of the cabinet.
The need is therefore still keenly felt for a device which allows the fine adjustment in any direction, vertical, longitudinal or oblique, of the door of a cabinet connected to arms of the type described in the applicant's above patent applications.